NCR Staff

Pope's quotes: "Everybody is aware of the enthusiasm with which children will play with a rugged old deflated ball in the suburbs of some great cities or the streets of small towns."

Pope's quotes: "Firstly, during my life as a priest and as a bishop I have accompanied people with homosexual tendencies or practices. I have accompanied them and brought them closer to the Lord. Some cannot, but I have accompanied them and never abandoned anyone."

Your thoughts: The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is winding down this weekend, but what decisions come out in the final documents could lead to some big changes for the Catholic Church. Discussions have been swirling around two topics in particular: married priests and women deacons.

Your thoughts: As one of National Catholic Reporter's regular columnists, Michael Sean Winters receives a lot of responses to his opinions published regularly on this site.

Pope's quotes: "Marriage is the image of God, man and woman become one flesh. If this is destroyed, the image of God is soiled or disfigured."

Pope's quotes: "The attachment to authentic religious values is utterly incompatible with the attempt to violently impose on others one's own vision, using God's holy name as 'armour.' "

Your thoughts: After publishing letters to the editor on the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump, another editorial was published calling on our nation to uphold our principles.

Pope's quotes: "The world, unfortunately, is experiencing the tragedy of many conflicts fuelled by intolerance, which in turn is fomented by violent ideologies and by the effective denial of the rights of the weakest."

Your thoughts: NCR readers are welcome to join the conversation and send us a letter to the editor. Below is a sampling of letters received in the month of August 2019. 

Your thoughts: NCR published two editorials this week on two very different topics. The first addressed the formal impeachment procedings of President Donald Trump, whiile the second talked about the upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.

Pope's quotes: "The lukewarm person lives to satisfy his or her own convenience, which is never enough, and in that way is never satisfied; gradually such a Christian ends up being content with a mediocre life."

Covering Climate Now: The Guardian is providing live updates throughout the day from climate strikes around the world.

Pope's quotes: "We are not called to serve merely in order to receive a reward, but rather to imitate God, who made Himself a servant for our love."

Your thoughts: Pope Francis warned Sept. 10 that ideology is "infiltrating" the religious teaching of some quarters of the U.S. Catholic Church, and said that in past centuries such infiltrations have led to schisms.

Pope's quotes: "In the Gospel, immediately following His words on the power of faith, Jesus speaks of service. Faith and service cannot be separated; on the contrary, they are intimately linked, interwoven with each other."

Your thoughts: More NCR readers wrote in with thoughts on Bishop James Wall's recent annoucement that he would begin celebrating Mass in his cathedral ad orientem, that is, "toward the east," with his back to the people.

Pope's quotes: "Why is Jesus so exacting? Because He loved us in this way, making Himself our servant 'to the end,' coming 'to serve, and to give his life.' "

Your thoughts: NCR readers are welcome to join the conversation and send us a letter to the editor. Below is a sampling of letters received in the month of July 2019.

Pope's quotes: "Because faith, which is always God's gift and always to be asked for, must be nurtured by us. It is no magic power which comes down from heaven, it is not a 'talent' which is given once and for all, not a special force for solving life's problems."